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WEEKS after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the final list of candidates for the 2023 general election, at least three of the leading political parties are in the throes of disqualification of their candidates in the election.
Mostly affected are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), as some of the candidates for the governorship and National Assembly elections have been axed by courts of competent jurisdiction.
The nullification followed cases instituted by aggrieved contestants over the conduct of party primaries.
In Taraba State, the Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, the state capital, nullified the governorship primary of the APC, which produced incumbent senator Emmanuel Bwacha for Taraba South senatorial district as APC standard-bearer.
The judgment was based on the case instituted by an aggrieved aspirant, David Sabo Kente, with the presiding judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, urging INEC to withdraw the certificate of return earlier issued to Bwacha as APC candidate. He also asked the party to conduct a fresh primary within two weeks from the day of the judgment, stressing also that the 2022 Electoral Act must be strictly adhered to.
Elsewhere, the Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed November 15 for judgment in another suit brought by one Yusuf Yusuf seeking the nullification of the primary that produced the senator as APC candidate.
Similarly, the Federal High Court in Kaduna had nullified the primary conducted by the PDP for Kaduna Central Senatorial District due to allegations of irregularities, with Justice Muhammed Umar ordering the party to conduct a fresh primary within 14 days.
One of the aspirants for the senatorial ticket, Usman Ibrahim, had approached the court through his counsel, Samuel Atung, challenging the emergence of Mr Lawal Adamu.
The plaintiff, Ibrahim, challenged the defendant’s election on the ground of alleged over voting and prayed the court to nullify the exercise and give every aspirant equal opportunity to test their popularity. In his judgment, justice Umar said all the complaints made by the plaintiff (Usman Ibrahim) were substantial, likewise the decision made by INEC to conduct fresh primary that did not later hold as a result of claims by the defendant was overruled. About a week ago, the leadership of the APC in Kaduna State claimed that it had not succeeded in striking a compromise with those aggrieved contestants over the outcome of the governorship primary.
The APC is also facing a Herculean task in Adamawa State, where the Federal High Court in Yola, the state capital nullified the choice of Aishatu Ahmed as the governorship candidate of the party in the state.
In the suit challenging the outcome of Adamawa primary conducted on May 26, 2022, which had the APC as the 1st defendant, Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) as second defendant and INEC as 3rd defendant, Justice Abdulaaziz Ankaref used the plea by the plaintiff for a fresh primary to be conducted.
He declared that the APC had no candidate for the 2023 governorship election. The judge said the nomination of Senator Aishatu Ahmed, popularly known as Binani, was in clear contravention of Section 85 (5) of the Electoral Act.
Binani, however, has since resigned as Coordinator, Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in Adamawa to enable her concentrate on her case in court.
Speaking with journalists, she attributed her resignation to a pending appeal case, which she says demands her attention and is likely to impact the presidential candidate of APC, Senator Bola Mr Tinubu’s ongoing campaign nationwide.
“I stepped down to enable someone to act on my behalf pending the decision to enable me to concentrate on my appeal case, she said. There is still uncertainty in Rivers APC, where the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, nullified all the primaries conducted by the party in the state.
“Some aggrieved APC members loyal to the governorship candidate of the Social democratic Party (SDP), Senator Magnus Abe had challenged the conduct of primary, with claims of exclusion from delegate primary conducted in the state. Consequently, a claimant, George Orlu and four others requested that the primaries of the APC in the state be nullified following their alleged exclusion in the process, after they had bought nomination forms.
“Justice E.A. Obile held that the aggrieved persons were shut out of the primaries unlawfully, stating that the plaintiffs were wrongly excluded from partaking in the party primaries.”
In Ogun State chapter, the ding-dong over the conduct of primary subsists, as the Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, recently nullified the governorship primary conducted by the party in the state.
Justice O.O Oguntoyinbo ordered the party to conduct another primary within the next 14 days The party had on May 25 conducted the primary, which produced Adebutu as the candidate of the party, but three members of the party: Taiwo Olabode Idris, Kehinde Akala and AlhajiAyinde Monsuri, dragged the party, Ladi Adebutu and INEC to court, challenging the authenticity of the delegates’ lists used for the primary.
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The PDP is beset with a similar challenge in Zamfara State, as the Federal High Court sitting in Gusau, Zamfara State, nullified the primary produced Dauda Lawan for the 2023 election.
Justice Aminu Bappa during a court sitting in Gusau ordered that the party should conduct fresh primary in the state.
Three aspirants, who are plaintiffs in the suit: Mr. Shehu Baukaye, Wadat Madawaki and Hafiz Muhammad had pulled out few minutes to the commencement of the exercise over alleged irregularities.
The defendants were the PDP, Maina-Waziri, Col. BalaMande (retd); Zamfara PDP Chairman, Lawal-Dare, the PDP candidate, and INEC.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court Lafia has nullified the APC primary in Nasarawa West senatorial district and ordered a fresh election within 14 days.
Justice Nehezina Afolabi gave the order in Lafia, the state capital in a judgment in the suit filed by one of the APC aspirants Mr Labaran Magaji.
Justice Afolabi noted that the delegates’ list used during the primary in June 2022 was fake, hence the purported declaration of Mr Shehu Tukur as the winner of the election was null and void.
She, however, directed the APC to conduct a fresh primary within 14 days using the delegates’ list originally certified by INEC.
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